FT Island gains strength from fans and soju in Paris

FT Island visited Europe for their FT Island X Europe tour to celebrate their 10th anniversary. The tour was made of 6 stops, including a concert in Paris on October, 27th organized by My Music Taste.

2017 marks FT Island’s 10th anniversary since debut. 10 years during which the group became one of the most special cases in the K-Pop industry.
Following their 2007 debut, FT Island were highly mediatized and released many hit songs. Later, they decided to focus on following their own path rather than complying with any pre-existing one. They became one of the most independent groups of the K-Pop industry. That probably explains why the audience gathered on that day was so diversified.

From a baby boy on his parent’s shoulders to fans in their fifties and more. From regular K-Pop fans to rock enthousiasts. Everyone was happy to celebrate FT Island’s 10 years. As expected from an anniversary tour, FT Island played both old and new tracks – such as Memory, Freedom, Pray, Wind, 1234… A setlist that pleased fans who have always been there as well as fans who started loving them after the group came to Paris in 2015 for solo concerts and in 2016 for the KCON. It was, indeed, FT Island’s 3rd time in Paris.

The members said they now feel at ease in France and that they don’t need a GPS system to go shopping. After the group’s first experiences in the country, they also emphasized how they trusted the fans to know the lyrics to their songs. A reference to their 2015 concert, when fans sang along to most songs. They also made a lot of efforts trying to learn french words.

This gave way to a talk about how difficult it is to speak french, with Seunghyun complaining that the translator made him repeat endlessly his “Êtes vous prêt ?” (Are you ready?) sentence. Following that, all the other members tried to get an approval for their pronunciation. Including Hongki, who made sure he gets “je t’aime” (I love you) right. But Minhwan just gave up and admitted that no matter what the language, he always has a korean pronunciation.

Fans repaid FT Island’s efforts by working just as hard for fanprojects. They made banners welcoming the group back, as well as banners celebrating 10 years of being together. They cheered hard, jumped a lot, sang along, and showed their support in any possible way. So despite the group being tired from the tour’s tight schedule, the members kept saying that they were finding their strength back thanks to the fans. However, hilariously, the fans support also included a shot of soju.

As Jonghoon spotted and grabbed the soju bottles first, Hongki laughed. He guessed that fans had prepared the soju after knowing that the members drank local beers during their previous European stops. Upon fans’ request, each member drank a small bottle in one go. Even Jaejin, who quickly became red and acted cute.

Despite the members’ tiredness, they made sure to have a lot of interactions with the fans. They created many funny and sweet memories together. And as FT Island promised to be back, fans left the venue hoping that they’ll get to enjoy the group’s free spirit again sooner rather than later.